PS3 Fanboy

Namco Bandai has managed to sneak a little bit of story into all of its Soulcalibur fighting games. Ultimately, they provide little reason as to why these characters seem to enjoy beating the c**p out of each other -- but it's good fun for us, nonetheless. The story of the upcoming Soulcalibur IV ties in the fate of the Soul Edge and the Soul Calibur and is presented in its now-trademark melodramatic style.

A fun drinking game to play while reading the Prologue is to take a shot every time the word "soul" is used. Let's see if you can survive!

This is the story of two great blades.
Soul Edge, the evil sword, whispered of in legends the world over. The devourer of souls.
Soul Calibur, the holy sword, fated to halt the evil sword, while remaining unknown to mankind, unsung in history.

For millennia, the two swords fought across countless bloody battlefields, until, at the close of the 16th century, they were silenced, forced to fuse together into a form unlike anything ever before seen. No one knows what desperate struggle continued within that quiet embrace of souls, but when they were once again let loose upon the world, Soul Calibur and Soul Edge were more powerful than ever before.

When Siegfried and Nightmare first stood against each other, each bearing one of the swords, the torrent of power they unleashed obliterated the Lost Cathedral in which they dueled. When the wave of destruction finally ebbed, they had disappeared, together with the swords they wielded.

...No one knew. No one realized that when the minds of Soul Calbur and Soul Edge touched, an ancient taboo had been broken, and the gears of fate had begun to turn. It was this entity that the guardians of the holy sword, a tribe long since lost to history, had feared and sought to contain, even as they fought the evil of Soul Edge through the ages. When the two opposing blades came together, a consciousness quietly awakened, and none know what final destiny it seeks...

We are approaching the end game of the ageless conflcit between Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. History has never seen such a battle. The great heroes of the age are drawn into the vortex, and together they are driven helplessly toward a terrible denouement.